May 11, 2008

Morning Meeting

• Hymn 150 – Thou art the everlasting word
• Scripture – John 1:1 & 14 — We just sang “Thou art the Everlasting Word” and we see that the person known as “the Word” is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is marvelous that He is known as the Word. We know from other Scriptures that “without him was not anything made that was made” He is not only the Word in name, but also in vocalization. It is wondrous that He could just speak and it would be done. This same One went to the cross; when He was there He spoke again and said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Well may we, as the hymn said, bow the knee before Him as we remember Him this morning.   
• Hymn 246, book 2 – Eternal Word, eternal Son
• Scripture – Colossians 1:12–20
• Prayer
• Hymn 179 – Brightness of th’ eternal glory

• Scripture

  • Hebrews 1:3 — We sang “brightness of the Eternal Glory” and “Eternal Word, eternal Son, of God the image Thou.”
  • John 1:18 — We also sang, “Declarer of the Father’s praise”
  • John 14:8 & 9
• Breaking of Bread
• Hymn 80 – On earth the song begins
• Ministry – John 1:4
• Hymn 222 – Everlasting glory be
• Prayer

Ministry — Norman Burgess

  Can we turn to John 1:4? “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” It seems as if the moment came when God said, “Let there be light,” not during Creation, but in the History of Man. “The Light shineth in darkness”; but it is not physical darkness, here it’s moral darkness. Man in his sinful condition didn’t see the light. How precious it is that through wondrous grace, that light shone in our hearts. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7). Now we can know His God and Father as our God and Father.

Children’s Meeting — Philip Burgess

Hymn 196 – The Lord of life is risen

Prayer

We’ll continue in our study of the book of Acts. We were part way through chapter 17. Paul is in Athens, waiting for Silas and Timothy to meet him there. While waiting, he looked around the city, and found that it was given up to idols. What is an idol? Read Psalm 135:15–17. The Athenians had made these idols out of silver and gold, but they were not living gods. Why do you think this stirred Paul’s heart? What was he spending his life doing? He was telling people about the only living God and what He had done for them. I recently saw a sign for the “Church of the Living God.” For those who have worshipped idols, it must be a very wonderful thing to discover a living God.

So Paul talked to the Athenians, vv. 17 – 21. They were seekers of truth, always wanting to discover new things, and so they were interested in learning about what he had to say. Paul came to Mars’ Hill, a theatre-like stadium where many people could come and listen to speakers. He told them about the true, living God. He explained how he had seen that they had an altar to the “Unknown God,” and this was Who he was telling them about. Read vv. 23–28. Paul talked about how it is only through God that we can live and do things, and how God had been gracious enough to offer a solution to their sin, if only they would repent. In Exodus, we read about how the last plague killed the firstborn in every house that did not have the blood on the door; that’s what the Lord’s blood can do for us; Paul explained this to them. Read vv. 33 & 34. Some of those listening believed Paul; others said they would like to hear him again. I’m not sure that they ever got another chance, since Paul left in the next chapter, but it is good to know that some believed. And may we remember that it is only through the Lord that we can breathe and move; may we use our lives to work for the Lord.

Reading Meeting — II Peter 1:1 – 7

We talked about verse 1, but there is an interesting relationship between faith and righteousness here. Our “like precious faith” is given to us through the righteousness of God. But this is not the righteousness spoken about in Matthew 6:33, where Jesus says, “Seek ye first … His righteousness.” God’s righteousness is accounted to us because of our faith. But here, we are talking about the Christian Faith, which we receive because God has a righteous ground—the Lord Jesus Christ—to give it to us.

V. 2 — As we have said, grace and peace were not part of Judaism. Grace is our standing before God; peace is our conscience’s standing before God. Peace is not part of the law; even those today who preach a salvation of works cannot have peace. Those on Mars’ Hill could not have peace; they never knew if they were pleasing all the gods. But we can have peace with God because our sins are forgiven; but Peter says, “peace be multiplied.” Do we really have peace with God, peace in every circumstance? The ultimate example of this is when the Lord was sleeping on a boat in the midst of a stormy sea. We can have peace when we learn more about the Lord, but we need to make sure it does not become simply knowledge in our minds. There are many people who know about God and Christianity, but do not have real peace and are not even saved. When we discover the peace of God experientially, we will truly learn in our hearts what it is. Read II Peter 3:18. It should always be our desire to grow in the knowledge of God.

V. 3 — All through His divine Power, God has given us what we need for life and godliness. We have no reason not to be. Our eternal life did not begin when we were saved. It is part of Christ’s life, which extends from eternity to eternity; we have been plugged into Him. We saw this morning how the Lord is the life and the light. Again, it is through the knowledge of Him “that hath called us to glory and virtue.” We are going on to glory; until we get there, we need virtue, spiritual energy.

Hymn – I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold

Prayer